Cracker Barrel’s ongoing restaurant redesigns are sparking fierce backlash from customers who say the chain is abandoning its nostalgic charm for sterile modernization.
The controversy highlights how deeply customers connect with the brand’s vintage atmosphere, raising questions about whether the 55-year-old chain can evolve without losing its soul.
The Tennessee-based restaurant company has been replacing its signature dark wood paneling and dense antique collections with bright white walls and streamlined layouts. About 40 of the chain’s 660-plus locations had completed redesigns by May 2025, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Social media erupted after videos showed the transformed interiors, with many customers expressing outrage over what they perceived as corporate sanitization.
One social media user posted on X: “Before Cracker Barrel had a homemade feel … Now, in your video after remodel, it feels like an airport soulless place.”
Another restaurant patron wrote, “My concern is this remodel. I’m sorry, but it looks horrible. It completely destroys the atmosphere that we go to Cracker Barrel for.”
X user Kevin E. Outland wrote: “Man they sucked all the charm out of the interior with this remodel. The warmth is gone. I won’t be stopping at any remodeled Cracker Barrels. I hope the[y] see the error of their ways.
The chain’s Chief Marketing Officer, Sarah Moore, has repeatedly tried to reassure concerned patrons.
“Items like our rocking chairs, our biscuits, our peg games, antiquities on the wall, none of that is going away,” she told Fox News. “We’re just looking at ways to freshen up the experience so that we can open our door a bit wider to welcome in more guests.”
Company representatives describe the changes as guest-driven improvements rather than wholesale reinvention. A Cracker Barrel spokesperson told Country Living that pilot tests at 25-30 locations feature lighter paint, updated fixtures/lighting, and new booth banquettes designed to create brighter spaces.
The remodeling effort comes after company leadership acknowledged the brand had lost cultural relevance in recent years.
“With traffic down almost 20% [compared] to 2019, they’re telling us they’re not choosing us,” Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Masino said in the third-quarter earnings conference call in 2024. “We’ve got to drive and reignite relevancy, and then we have to have food and an experience that guests crave and guests love.”
While the majority of social media posts on the subject expressed negative views about the remodel, a few had some positive comments.
“Cracker Barrel 100% did the right thing modernizing. My last visit was pre-COVID and nearly every location looked worn-out and sad. A few weeks ago I stopped in and, Wow. Everything was bright, the food was (still) great, and the staff seemed even friendlier than I remembered,” Anthony Graves posted on X.